Automatic fire extinguishing and alarm apparatus



No. 607,027. Patented July l2, |898. H. EvEnsMANN.

AUTOMATIC FIRE EXTINGUISHING AND ALARM APPARATUS.

(Application led Aug. 21, 1897.) (No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet l.

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No. 607,027. Patented my l2', |s9`a.

H. l-:vEnsMANN AUTOMATIC FIRE EXTINGUISHING AND `ALAEIM AiPABATUS.

, (Application led Aug. 217 1897.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

l! /////////////////////I////II/II//I/l//I/l/W/f//I//lA t @Miren *rAfrnsv ,WATENT 4, FFICE@ HENRY EVERSMANN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

AUToMA-ric FIRE EXTINGUISHiNe AND ALARM APPARATUS.

' y vsrncxrrcnroiv fqrming pm Qflfnetteisjraent No. 1607,02?, dated Juiy 12,1898.

- Amacai@ niet Aggie 21, i807,

T0 tl/ whom, t may concern: y

Be it known that I, HENRY EvERsMANN, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, and a resident of OincinnatLIIamilton county, State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Automatic Fire Extinguishing and Alarm Apparatus; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, attention being called to the accompanying two sheets of drawings, with the reference-numerals marked thereon, which form a part of this specication.

This inventionrelates to an automatic fire extinguishing and alarm apparatus which operates in such manner that the heat generated by a iire causes water tobe turned onto certain or all parts Within a building, giving at the same time an alarm in the station of a iire department, notification company, or other designated place. Generally these devices consist of a system of pipes arranged below the ceilings of the place to be protected, and which pipes are provided at certain intervals with sprinkler-heads or spray-nozzles, the supply to which is normally prevented by means which depend on a fusible connection and whichwhen broken by reason of the latter melting, in consequence of a rising temperature caused by a fire, open the supply and permit the water to discharge.

-My invention is to.be used in connectionwith -a pipe system which is normally empty and provided with a main supply-valve either' forthe whole building orpreferably with one for each floor to be protected, 'which valve controls admission to the pipes accordingly.

My invention relates particularly to the supply-valve and to the means whereby it is caused to operate automatically, subject to electrical control, whichl takes place upon action, in consequence of rising temperatures, of one or more thermostats distributed throughout the building. Means are also provided whereby at the same time an alarm is sent in to a fire-station or other place designated, and an indicator at the outside of the building shows what iioor is aifected.

In the following Ispecification and particularly pointed out in the claims is found a full description of the invention, its operation,

sein No. 040,000.' (No man.)

parts and their construction, which latter is also illustrated in the accompanying two sheets of drawings, in which-'- Figure 1 shows in vertical section a part of a building provided with my improved sprinkler system. Fig. 2 is a floor plan of the same building, showing the pipes and other parts of the system as they appeary when arranged against the under side of a ceiling. Fig.V 3 is an enlarged sectional detail View of a part of aV ceiling of the aforementioned building, showing also means in their normal condition for automatically opening the supply-valve for the particular iioor. Fig. 4 is a top view of the parts shown in the preceding figure. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through the valve, showing the same closed. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3,`sho wing par/ts in a position conditional for opening the valve.

8 are the walls of the building, and 9 the floors dividing the same horizontally. The water-supply may be assumed to come from a street-main 10, and enters the building through a branch l1, controlled by an ordinary stop-valve 12. This branch rises through all the stories to be protected, and yfrom it and below the ceilings start the pipe systems 13, supplying the sprinkler-heads or spraynozzles 14. The"particulanarrangement of .thesefpipe systems isnot material, but to simplify matters should be so tliatone valve 15, contained in a housing 1 6, may control their supply from pipe 11; -Only the latter is charged, and since the water cannot pass beyond the normally closed valve lthe sprinkler-heads may all be normally open and require no individual closing device.

V As has been stated, valves 15 are controlled electrically by devices acting in consequence of certain thermal conditions. The electrical part of the system to be arranged after improved and well-known methods may operate either by a normally closed or a normally open circuit, but preferably by the latter. lVires are stretched throughout on the under side of the ceilings and between thepipe system 13, electricity being supplied from any suitable source-as, for instance, bya battery 17-the current going out on Wire 18 and completes the circuit by returning overwire 19. When so returning over a completed circuit, all depending devices controlled by it oper- IOO ate for the purpose of admitting water to the pipes and for operating signals and alarms. Normally, however, the completion of the circuit is prevented by devices which interrupt it, being held open by fusible connections, which melt upon such temperatures as the heat of a fire would produce. Connection is then established, which permits the current to pass and to operate for the purposes above mentioned. A suitable construction for the fusible connections is shown in Fig. 3,and consists of two metallic contact-pieces 21 and 22, of which the latter is hingedly secured to a downwardly-depending bracket 23, secured to the underside of the ceiling. Itis adapted to rest upon the former, but is normally held out of contact therewith by a fusible connection 24 of any suitable substance which melts at a certain predetermined temperature. One of the circuit-wires connects with piece 2l and the other with piece 22, so that both of the latter being electrical conductors it will be readily understood how electrical connection is established when the melting fusible connection 24 permits contact-piece 22 to drop upon contact-piece 2l. The electrical part of the system being thus rendered operative the same acts in a manner to open valve 15 to admit water into pipes 13, which issues now through the different sprinklers. At the same time the particular iloor where the tire occurred is indicated and an alarm is sent to a fire or notification station.

Valve 15,which controls the water-supply, is preferably of cylindrical shape, its closed end being normally seated against a valveseat formed around outlet-opening 25 of pipe 11 in a manner to close the latter. It is contained in a closed housing 16, into which it is fitted to be capable of a sliding movement to or from its seat, to which latter it is held by the pressure of previously-injected air or. any other fluid, Water, or oil, and the pressure of which against the back of the valve overbalances the pressure in pipe 11. This Iiuid is injected through a nipple 2G, which is se-' curely closed, when after sufficient injection the valve is seated.

Communicating with housing 16 is an outlet 27, which ends in a downwardly-opening cup-shaped socket 2S. This latter is closed by a plug 29, ground to a close-fitting seat and held in position within by a lever 31, hinged at 32. A regulating-screw 33 is preferably interposed to permit close and perfect adjustment. Lever 3l is held up for purposes of retaining plug 29 by a projection 34 on a drop-latch 35, which latter is sustained in an upright position by a lever 36, held in place for such purpose by a pin 37 on a lever 38 and resting in a notch 39 in the end of lever 3G. The free end oi lever 38 is provided with an armature 41, located opposite and above magnets 42. These latter, as well as latch 35 and levers 36 and 3S, are supported on a bracket 43, which may be secured to the underfside of the ceiling. A circulating current having been established by contactpieces 21 and 22, as before explained, magnets 42 become excited and attract armature 41, thereby lifting pin 37 out of notch 39. This releases lever 36, which drops to the left, and releases latch 35, which drops to the right. Lever 3l being thus rendered without a support drops away from under plug 29, whereupon the latter is driven out from its seat by the pressure within va1ve-housing 1G. (See Fig. 6.) The pressure in the latter rapidly decreases before the now1 overbalancing pressure of the water in pipe 1l, which pushes valve 15 away from its seat and enters pipe system 13, supplying the sprinklers. Lever 36, being through its pivot electrically connected with the main circuit, in falling to the left drops upon a contact-piece 44, also electrically connected, and thereby establishes a connection, whereby an electrical impulse is sent out through a wire 45 to Hoor-indicator 46, and from them on farther to a lire or n0- tiiication station.

Having described my invention, I claim as newm 1. In a sprinkler system for hre-extinguishing purposes, the combination of a normally charged supply-pipe and a normally empty 'sprinkler-pipe, an intermediate valve-housing to which each connects and through which they communicate, a valve fitted into this valve-housing with a sliding adjustment and dividing the same into two parts in a manner to prevent communication between such parts at all times, so that when that part of the valve-housing opposite to the charged pipe is filled with a liquid at a pressure exceeding the pressure in the charged pipe, such valve is adapted to hold the valve-housing closed against the charged pipe, an outletopening in the charged part oi' the valvehousing and means to open and close this opening.

2. The combination of a normally empty sprinkler-pipe and a normally charged supply-pipe, a valve-housing through which they communicate with each other and to which they connect at diiterent points, a valve tted into this housing and dividing it in a manner to prevent at all times communication between the parts of the valve-ho using on either side of the valve, said valve having a sliding adjustment whereby it is enabled to occupy `a position within the valve-housing intermediate the points where the pipes iirst mentioned connect thereto, preventing then communication between them and as long as the valve is held in such position by a body of liquid back of it and coniined in that part of the valve-housing opposite to where the charged pipe connects, an outlet-opening in this part of the valve-housing and means to open and close it.

3. The combination of a valve-housing 16 provided with an internal valve-seat, a normally charged supply-pipe 1l and a normally empty sprinkler-pipe 13 both connecting to IOO IIO

the valve-housing at different points and to either side of the Valve-seat therein, a valve l5 fitted into this housing with a sliding adjustment to or from the valve-seat and in a manner to prevent at all times communication between the parts of the valve-housing on either side of the valve, so that when said valve is seated against the valve-seat, communieation between pipes 11 and 13 is prevented as long as the part of the valve-housing back of seat l5 is filled with a body of liquid, an outlet 27 in this part of the valvehousing and means to open and close it.

4. The combination of a sprinkler-supplying-pipe system, a supply-pipe for the same, a housing connecting the two and having openings leading to eaeh, a valve contained in said housing and capable of a slidin g movement therein to or from the opening leading to the main supply-pipe which latter is nor- Inally charged, a iiuid contained in the housing at a pressure in excess of the pressure in the main supply-pipe which by acting against the back of the valve causes the same to be held against the opening leading to the supply-pipe for which purpose said valve is also so arranged and fitted as to absolutely close at all times the charged part of the housing against the two pipes, an outlet from the housing, a plug to close the same, a lever 3l to hold the latter in place, a drop-latch holding this lever in position and an electricallycontrolled lever adapted to release the latch.

5. The combination of a sprinkler-supplying-pipe system, a normally charged supplypipe for the same, a valve 15 normally closing the latter against the former, a fluidcharged housing which contains said valve, the latter being held to its seat by the pressure of the fluid in the housing, an outlet in the latter, a plug to close the same, a lever 31 t0 hold the latter in place, a drop-latch which holds lever 31 against the plug, a lever 36 to sustain the drop-latch, an electrically-conneoted contact-piece 44, a floor-indicator and a station-alarm and an electrically-controlled lever 38 which operates to release all parts for the purpose of opening valve 15 and for establishing a current between the floor-indicator and station-alarm, such current being established between contact-piece 44 and lever 36, when the latter, which is also electrioally connected, drops after its release upon the former.

6. The combination of a supply-pipe 11, a housing 16 connected therewith, an opening 25 between the two, a valve 15 fitted into said housing in a manner as to have a sliding movement to or from said opening 25, pipes 13 also communicating with said housing, a nozzle 26 to charge the latter, an outlet 27, a cup-shaped socket 28 within which it ends and a plug 29 fitted into said socket for the purpose of closing the outlet from the housing.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

HENRY EVERSMANN.

Witnesses:

C. SPENGEL, ARTHUR KLINE. 

